The Art Of The Puppet

A famous puppeteer gives a fascinating introduction to his art.

Introduction to Puppetry Arts shares the history, cultures, and traditions surrounding the ancient performance art of puppetry, along with an overview of puppet construction and performance techniques used around the world. From its earliest beginnings in the ancient Middle East and Asia, through its representations in Medieval/Renaissance Europe, up until its modern-day appearances in theatre, television, and film, this book offers a thorough overview of how this fascinating art form originated and evolved. It also includes easy-to-follow instructions on how to create puppets for performance and display and an in-depth resource list and bibliography for further research and information. Written for students in puppetry arts and stagecraft courses, Introduction to Puppetry Arts offers a comprehensive look at this enduring craft and provides a starting point for creating a wide range of puppets, from marionettes and hand puppets to mascots and character costumes.

This book takes a new, interdisciplinary approach to analyzing modern Viennese visual culture, informed by Austro-German theater, contemporary medical treatises centered on hysteria, and an original examination of dramatic gestures in expressionist artworks. It centers on the following question: How and to what end was the human body discussed, portrayed, and utilized as an aesthetic metaphor in turn-of-the-century Vienna? By scrutinizing theatrically “hysterical” performances, avant-garde puppet plays, and images created by Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser, Egon Schiele and others, Nathan J. Timpano discusses how Viennese artists favored the pathological or puppet-like body as their contribution to European modernism.